Enhanced fear has gripped Malawians living in South Africa in the wake of anti-immigrant demonstrations that started on Tuesday and forced some of them out of employment.
Their plight is worsened by the fact that some property owners are also evicting foreign nationals, including Malawians from their houses or risk having their businesses and buildings vandalised by demonstrators.
The Nation checks yesterday established that the situation remained tense in some parts of South Africa with most businesses still closed.
A Malawian residing in Durban, who already stopped going to work, said demonstrators stormed his apartment on the night of Tuesday.
“They came for me at night, but I escaped to a friend’s apartment who kept me the whole night. The situation is tense here, I will be returning back to Malawi tomorrow [Thursday] after buying a bus ticket,” he said.
He said alongside his compatriots they are also living in fear and could not move out of homes.
Another Malawian based in Johannesburg said while there were no demonstrations his side of town, businesses were closed and no foreigner went out for fear of being targeted.
South African Broadcasting Corporation (Sabc) reported that Malawians were among more than 30 people stranded at Durban Old Drive-In yesterday after being dumped there by their employers.
All the Malawians have since been moved to Musina repatriation camp in Limpopo Province near the Beitbridge border post with Zimbabwe, which also serves as an exit route to Malawi.
The developments are happening despite South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Malawian counterpart Peter Mutharika, discussing the need for the safe repatriation of Malawians last month.
South Africa’s Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber visited the repatriation centre yesterday, where he said 60 of the 150 buses transporting immigrants had arrived at the centre on Tuesday, according to media reports.
“We have to check for anyone who is illegal in the country and then record their biometrics and fingerprints, that is what the immigration law requires,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has confirmed that 11 Malawians were injured and a driver died following a bus accident yesterday.
The ministry said in a statement that the bus was travelling from Durban in KwaZ ulu-Natal to Beitbridge when it overturned along the N1 Highway near Musina.
Sabc also reported that, following the tense situation on Tuesday, the South African Defence Force was deployed to Clermont in Durban after several businesses were looted.
More than 900 South Africans were arrested following the demonstrations, which were marred by looting and alleged breaches of the Immigration Act.
At the moment, more Malawians continue to arrive at Joyce Chitsulo Stadium in Mwanza District.
The Department of Disaster Management Affairs had yet to provide an update on the number of Malawians repatriated so far and those remaining in South Africa in need of repatriation.
In an earlier statement, South Africa’s Government Communication and Information System chief director William Baloyi dismissed the June 30 ultimatum as “not a government pronouncement”, assuring that authorities “will not allow any instability”.
Department of Disaster Management Affairs Commissioner Wilson Moleni told The Nation on Sunday that about 15 000 Malawians had been brought back home by then.
Malawians are among foreign nationals displaced by anti-immigrant attacks in South Africa that have intensified in recent weeks following accusations by some South African groups, namely March and March and Operation Dudula, that immigrants, especially those undocumented, are stealing jobs for locals.
